[Help Thread] F2L Discussion and Help

[bananapoopking]

When do I do a cube rotation? Should I cube rotate if I can do the pair using Back moves?
When do I set up the 3 move insert or the normal pair then insert?

 

[DGCubes]

You should never (or at least very rarely) be using B moves in F2L. Cube rotations are not great, but if a rotation changes the pair from using U and F moves to using U and R or U and L moves, it's definitely better to do so. You should also try to insert your first pairs in the back, so you'll ideally end up with 2 empty slots in the front. Then, you most likely won't have to cube rotate at all for the last 2 pairs.

As far as setting up the right insert, that completely depends on the case. If you get a case where you're not sure which is more efficient in the middle of a solve, just do either one, and set up the case again after the solve to try to find the most efficient solution when you're not under the pressure of a timer.

 

[Rpotts]

When do I do a cube rotation? Should I cube rotate if I can do the pair using Back moves?
When do I set up the 3 move insert or the normal pair then insert?

Ideally you should only be rotating if the case requires it, as in when the edge is oriented incorrectly. In general I'd stay away from using B moves during F2L but as with everything, I'm sure there are some exceptions. You either set up to the 3 move join (R U R') or insert the pair (R U' R') depending on which case you have. Some cases either setup can work well and knowing both can help avoid rotations.

For example set your cube up by doing R U R' U2 R U R'

This case can be solved by making a pair with R U' R' then inserting it with U2 (R U' R').

However if you got the same basic case from a different angle (setup with R U R' U2 R U R' y) you can solve it by doing L' U' L to set up for a join case then doing U2 (L' U' L) to solve it.

Good luck.

 

[Levurmion]

I have never learned the full Beginner's Method. I immediately skipped to 4LLL when first learning to solve the last layer. My friend was partly to blame.

I am now averaging 30-45 seconds. PB of 28s. I believe that this is a fairly inconsistent range. Sometimes I get F2L cases which I know how to solve without thinking and other times require me to do y rotations several times.

I've been practicing look-ahead and piece tracking but I don't know why everytime I try to speedsolve everything I practiced while slow turning broke down and I can't really help it. My F2L takes like 15-20s and it's really bugging me that my practices are not helping much. My last layer is around 5-7s.

I've been trying to solve the cross blind.
Doing pairs blind.
Tracking pieces while random turning or slow solving F2L.
Inserting pairs at the back.

Sigh none seemed to help much.

Any better practices you guys might be able to suggest? This horrid F2L is killing me.

 

[pglewis]

Pure, brute-force repetition is probably your best help for F2L. A month is a really short time to reach the times you're getting, but with 20,000 more solves you'll have better recognition and anticipation.

 

[shadowslice e]

Honestly it's really just a case of practise practise practise. You're doing all the hinges right and you'll get there eventually. Just keep going

Of course of you don't like CFOP you could always try a different method like Roux or ZZ.

 

[Goal_Sub10ThisYear]

Should I even learn all the F2L algorithms?
I'm avrg around 45 secs..
What should I Work on?
(I know my weakness is finding the next f2l pair or even finding the first one it take's me for ever what can I do to improve it?

 

[Rpotts]

Should I even learn all the F2L algorithms?
I'm avrg around 45 secs..
What should I Work on?
(I know my weakness is finding the next f2l pair or even finding the first one it take's me for ever what can I do to improve it?

You don't have to learn all the F2L algorithms. With practice what you have learned intuitively will start to feel algorithmic, and you will begin to understand what you have learned algorithmically and they will feel more intuitive.

You should look up F2L algorithms for whatever cases you struggle with. If you begin to hate a case, or feel that you don't know how to do it quickly and efficiently, you should look up other solutions to it and see if there's something you're missing.

Getting better at finding pairs and looking ahead is something that you can't really teach/learn as you're beginning, you need to practice...a lot to improve.

 

[daver12345]

Should I even learn all the F2L algorithms?
I'm avrg around 45 secs..
What should I Work on?
(I know my weakness is finding the next f2l pair or even finding the first one it take's me for ever what can I do to improve it?

I would recommend to try and learn a most or all of the F2L algs intuitively and then, overtime, learn better ones that are more efficient.

 

[Goal_Sub10ThisYear]

You don't have to learn all the F2L algorithms. With practice what you have learned intuitively will start to feel algorithmic, and you will begin to understand what you have learned algorithmically and they will feel more intuitive.

You should look up F2L algorithms for whatever cases you struggle with. If you begin to hate a case, or feel that you don't know how to do it quickly and efficiently, you should look up other solutions to it and see if there's something you're missing.

Getting better at finding pairs and looking ahead is something that you can't really teach/learn as you're beginning, you need to practice...a lot to improve.

Thanks for helping I just learned 4 algs for my f2l and I can just do the rest on my own.
Thanks for the tips.

I would recommend to try and learn a most or all of the F2L algs intuitively and then, overtime, learn better ones that are more efficient.

Thanks man that also help me a lot because I learned some by overtime and like the rpotts said I can learn the algs only for the one I think It's hard to solve
Thanks everyone for the help :3

 

[Luke8]

Try learning algorithms and intuitive, then you can see which will work better. Sometimes it will be intuitive, other times algorithms. note that this is completely theoritacal, I have not tried this.

 

[Survfour]

https://www.speedsolving.com/wiki/index.php/First_Two_Layers

This is where I learned how to do the basic F2L cases. It's kind of learning algs, but they are very simple and honestly they will very quickly become automatic. I don't think it's good to figure out yourself how to do F2L because you are probably missing some very easy cases and doing them very unefficiently. Here you can see different ways to solve F2L cases, and some of them are bad, so don't just choose the first one you see.

 

[pipkiksass]

I don't think it's good to figure out yourself how to do F2L

I honestly couldn't disagree more strongly!!!

OLL and PLL are algorithmic, and 99+% of cubers (myself included) don't understand how they affect the cube.

F2L is your chance to understand what's happening and what you're doing. You should learn it in an entirely intuitive way, by understanding edge orientation, how to set up cases, how to insert and influence the next pair, the list goes on and on with the stuff you can do.

When you're really comfortable with F2L, but certain cases are particularly slow or inefficient, THAT is the time to go trawling the wiki for algs.

I know 2 F2L cases algorithmically, and they're both stuck edge cases, and I average about 18 seconds. I have no intention to learn more F2L algs.

At the end of the day it's up to you, you're free to make cubing a brainless and dull exercise if you wish!!!

[emoji6]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[SpikeCuber]

If you were given this case (Important: do with yellow on top and blue in the front.): D2 R2 U F2 U' B2 U' F2 R2 U' B2 L D' F2 R' F D2 L2 D2 L2 | D L2 B L R' D B' D | B U B' L U L'
You should now have a cross on the bottom. (Important: Now turn the cube around so that green is facing you and yellow is still on top). Would anyone ever consider solving the red and green F2L pair with: D R U R' D' ? Would you normally solve a case like this if you happened to see it?

 

[PurpleBanana]

If you were given this case (Important: do with yellow on top and blue in the front.): D2 R2 U F2 U' B2 U' F2 R2 U' B2 L D' F2 R' F D2 L2 D2 L2 | D L2 B L R' D B' D | B U B' L U L'
You should now have a cross on the bottom. (Important: Now turn the cube around so that green is facing you and yellow is still on top). Would anyone ever consider solving the red and green F2L pair with: D R U R' D' ? Would you normally solve a case like this if you happened to see it?

I would solve the FR slot first to get the red-green edge out, and then use keyhole on the FL slot.

 

[obelisk477]

If you were given this case (Important: do with yellow on top and blue in the front.): D2 R2 U F2 U' B2 U' F2 R2 U' B2 L D' F2 R' F D2 L2 D2 L2 | D L2 B L R' D B' D | B U B' L U L'
You should now have a cross on the bottom. (Important: Now turn the cube around so that green is facing you and yellow is still on top). Would anyone ever consider solving the red and green F2L pair with: D R U R' D' ? Would you normally solve a case like this if you happened to see it?

F r U r' U' F' is a neat way to do it

 

[CubingBanana]

Hi people!

So I am a slower cuber than others, I'm getting around 35 seconds with a 31-35 ao5. I'm fast at cross and last layer (sometimes, I stopped gperms) and I'm noticing I'm taking about 15-25 seconds on F2L! I am not a big fan of learning new algs because I always forget them or I don't memorize the cases, just the algorithms. I've learned sledge hammer, and I feel really slow on F2L! Please help!
Also algoritms seem to make me less fast, intuitiveness is my current fast

 

[xyzzy]

I am not a big fan of learning new algs because I always forget them or I don't memorize the cases, just the algorithms. I've learned sledge hammer, and I feel really slow on F2L! Please help!
Also algoritms seem to make me less fast, intuitiveness is my current fast

I have this problem too, and I think it really helps to have mnemonics for different cases. (Not just for F2L, but also LL!) For example, if there are two cases that look similar, but one of them is faster than the other, I'll call one of them the "good" case and the other one the "bad" case.

However, I think learning F2L algs isn't as useful as just improving overall lookahead when you're still averaging 20 seconds for F2L. Turn slow, pause less, etc. Intuitive F2L is good enough to get your cross+F2L to sub-18.

 

[CubingBanana]

I have this problem too, and I think it really helps to have mnemonics for different cases. (Not just for F2L, but also LL!) For example, if there are two cases that look similar, but one of them is faster than the other, I'll call one of them the "good" case and the other one the "bad" case.

However, I think learning F2L algs isn't as useful as just improving overall lookahead when you're still averaging 20 seconds for F2L. Turn slow, pause less, etc. Intuitive F2L is good enough to get your cross+F2L to sub-18.

Yeah, that's what I am doing and usually averaging. I just can't get sub-PB

 

[Luke8]

I have been averaging around 20-25 seconds for my f2l for the past 3 weeks. I can't improve, even though I use lookahead enough that I probably have 1-3 second pause once every solve. Obviously, improve look ahead to eliminate all pauses will definitly help. But what else? My tps is about 2-3. Thank so much.